The 100 - Episode 1.09 - Unity Day - Review: The best Unity Day ever

In this week's episode of The 100, the Ark and the 100 on Earth celebrate Unity Day, the day that the 12 space stations came together to form the Ark. As it turns out, this year is the best Unity Day ever. Well, sort of.

Celebrations for Unity Day on the Ark include a speech from Jaha (though he left out the best part, according to Diana) and the telling of the Ark's origin story by some children. However, in the middle of the story, a bomb suddenly explodes and kills six people (RIP Kane's mom). Jaha fears it's a coup, and suspicion immediately falls on Diana as she left the scene seconds before the explosion. Indeed the bombing was part of her plan but when she delivers a suspect to Jaha and Kane, there is no more focus on her. She then proceeds as planned to get the first dropship ready for a launch. The dropship, however, is set to contain only 'her' people, the working people, and not the people who the Counsil had planned to take the first ticket to Earth. As the bombing suspect escapes, almost letting Kane freeze to death, Jaha and Kane realize that they're planning a dropship launch and attempt to stop it. While only 50% of Diana's people are on board, she still decides to go ahead with her plan. Even Abby, who is an accidental stowaway on the ship, can't stop Diana. Then Jaha realizes that the rest of the Ark will go dark if the dropship launches, begging the former Chancellor to stop this madness. But Diana is firm, and eventually the dropship disconnects from the Ark and is on its way to Earth, leaving behind the dark Ark. How is that for unity?

Things are not much better on Earth. Sure, they are partying at first and Bellamy even manages to convince Clarke to have some fun. But during that party, Octavia sneeks away to see Lincoln. Finn follows her and gives the Grounder his knife back. He also says he wants to broker peace with the Grounders because he doesn't want a war when the first dropship comes down. Lincoln will talk to his boss, but tells Finn he wants Clarke as representative of the 100. So just as Clarke is having some fun in the camp, Finn breaks up the party and tells her about the possible truce. She agrees to a meeting, but warns Bellamy behind Finn's back and tells him to bring some backup. Bellamy brings Raven and Jasper with guns, even though both sides agreed there would be no weapons. During the talk, the Grounder's leader, named Anya, reveals to Clarke that the flares they shot in episode 5 destroyed an entire village. As the two female leaders continue their little talk, Jasper spots an armed Grounder in the tree and fires a shot. The meeting is of course broken up as everybody hastens away.

The two tribes now definitely seem to be at war with one another. Finn is mad at Clarke for not trusting him, though Clarke has a point that there would be no armed Grounders. Obviously Octavia is mad too, especially at the somewhat jealous Jasper. As Clarke and Bellamy keep talking, they notice an object, presumably the dropship, coming down to Earth. But Clarke notes that it's going too fast and that there is no parachute, and the object crashes and explodes as Clarke is left in shock.

That was quite an explosive episode, wasn't it? It certainly blew me (literally) away. The Ark scenes were quite impressive and once again we saw an emotional side to Kane (Henry Ian Cusick did great there!). The theme of Unity Day went in the completely opposite direction, both on the Ark and on Earth. The events on board the Ark will likely create more chaos and more rebellion against the Counsil now that the truth is also revealed. On Earth, the wedge between the 100 and the Grounders has only grown after the hositle meeting, though there lies some hope in Octavia and Lincoln.

I don't think Abby really died in that explosion. Though I have no idea how she got out of there, I just don't buy it that she's dead. Perhaps the object that crashed wasn't really the dropship, or it was only part of it. Perhaps the ship is still in space and hasn't even gotten close to Earth. At this point, it's all just speculation.

What did you think of this episode? Did it blow you away or did you see the explosions coming? Will there now be a full-scale war between the 100 and the Grounders? How can the Ark get back on its feet again? And do you believe the crashing object was the dropship, killing Abby and Diana along with a few others?

Check out a promo for next week's episode here.

About the Author - Daniel

Daniel (Veer95) is a Dutch university student studying Psychology. On SpoilerTV he is a reviewer of NCIS, Crisis and The 100. He also likes to watch Arrow, The Tomorrow People, NCIS: LA, Nikita, The Blacklist, Under the Dome, Intelligence and Hostages.